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Would-be car thieves thwarted by stick shift; late-night news roundup

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Surveillance video of a parking lot in Seattle shows a teen running after a failed attempt at stealing a woman's car on Saturday. Nancy Fredrickson said three teens tried to steal her car that day, and images of the other two suspects can also be seen on the video.
(KIROTV)

Seattle teens who tried to steal a woman's car Saturday couldn't make it out of the parking lot.

Nancy Fredrickson, 70, told KIROTV that she was walking around to the back of her KIA to retrieve something from the trunk when she heard someone demand for her keys.

Then she saw a teen wearing a hoodie and pointing a gun at her.

She dropped her keys, and three teens got into the car. But the parking lot is as far as they got. They couldn't drive a stick shift, she said.

When the teens found out that they couldn't get rolling, they got out of the KIA and ran away.

"It was quite an interesting day," Fredrickson said. "Let's put it that way."

Elsewhere in the Northwest:

A Seattle man is accused of masturbating in front of a Metro Transit driver — twice. The man is facing indecent exposure charges. [Seattlepi]

Police said a Puyallup man who was upset over a stolen laptop lit a neighbor's garage on fire Monday night. According to charging documents, officers could smell gasoline at the scene and saw Kenneth Balduff running away from the flames with a red gas can in hand.

The neighbor then yelled, "Are you serious?" to which Balduff replied, "[Expletive] yeah!" before driving off in his truck, police said. Balduff has been charged with arson and possession of a dangerous weapon. [Komonews]

A 13-year-old boy has been granted home detention after being taken into custody in connection with the shooting death of a 14-year-old on the Skokomish reservation. The Mason County Sheriff's Office said the two boys were playing with rifles Tuesday. The 13-year-old told authorities that he pointed the rifle at his friend and fired but didn't think the gun was loaded.